Milla’s story: Learning to live again with ulcerative colitis
My IBD journey began in 2022, during my final year of school before graduating Year 12.
I was constantly sick – dealing with severe cramping and abdominal pain, endless trips to the bathroom, exhaustion, sore joints, and anxiety every time I left the house wondering where the closest bathroom would be. My whole life started revolving around my symptoms.
Just three months before graduating, I was admitted to the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital, where I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis.
What followed were years of trying medication after medication, with little to no success. Eventually, I was told my disease had progressed to severe pancolitis.
Last year, after collapsing in the shower, I was admitted to hospital again for a week and started on yet another medication. But the months that followed were still some of the hardest of my life.
Then, in December, I was rushed to hospital in an ambulance in the most unbearable pain I had ever experienced. I spent nearly two weeks in hospital, and one week before Christmas, I made the decision to have surgery and get an ileostomy bag.
As hard as it was, it was also one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. For the first time in years, I finally got part of my life back.
I still have hard days – days where I grieve the old version of myself or don’t fully recognise the person I’ve become through all of this. But I also have days now where I feel alive again. Free again. Like I’m finally learning how to live instead of just survive.
I don’t know exactly what my future looks like, but one thing I do know is that my body never gave up on me, even in the moments I wanted to give up on it.
And for that, I’ll always be proud of how far I’ve come.